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Annual report card on Alberta high schools released

The Fraser Institute recently released their annual school report cards on high schools in the province for the 2010/2011 school year, with the City of Leduc and Leduc County schools ranking well overall.

Although the results can be used in comparison with other schools, area schools are different in their student population, academics and other elements. Based upon numerous factors, some of which include exam marks, diploma completion rate and percentage of exams failed, the report cards are often controversial with school officials because they often don't paint a complete overall picture of the school.

"I'm not a great proponent of the Fraser report because I feel it is very limited in terms of what it reports. There is a large aspect of school life, in our case everything from faith development to parents, student, staff involvement to how we prepare kids for the world of work, safe and caring schools. None of that gets measured in the Fraser [report] and if you ask kids what makes your school great, that's the kind of thing they tell you," explained Jamie McNamara, superintendent with St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic (STAR) school division.

His sentiment is shared by Dr. Norman Yanitski, superintendent for Black Gold Regional Division (BGRD), who prefers to use other information to grade Black Gold schools.

"I don't use them, they're not data. I'm basically saying I work with the good, accountable date from Alberta Education."

But that doesn't mean the two local school divisions don't discredit the report cards' findings. They consider the report cards as just another tool to evaluate how their schools fared overall.

"As far as how we did on the Fraser report, of course we celebrate that because that's just one more indicator that CTK [Christ The King] is an excellent academic, all around school and the Fraser report just reinforces that," said McNamara.

The area's overall ranks

With 276 schools ranked in the report, schools in the region ranged in their marks, with many similar to the rankings other high schools in the area received.

CTK ranked 29 overall in Alberta along with Ecole Secondaire Beaumont Composite High School, the highest ranking of the schools in the region.

Calmar's high school ranked 77, with John Maland in Devon ranking 95 along with New Sarepta's high school.

Leduc Composite High School (LCHS) ranked 126, followed by Warburg's high school who came in at 213. Thorsby High School ranked 245.

The report also provided the average rank over the past five years, with Beaumont, Calmar and New Sarepta increasing in their ranked position.

CTK, John Maland, LCHS and Thorsby all dropped in relation to where they were ranked on average in the last five years. Warburg did not have sufficient information for a five-year comparison.

"I have our overall accountability for our schools and for a lack of a better word, the word would be our report card is extremely good for Black Gold so we're very, very proud of the work staff are doing with students," said Yanitski.

Individual report cards

For each school evaluated on the report card, they were given an overall mark out of 10 based on the school's average exam mark, percentage of exams failed and diploma completion rate, to name a few of the criteria the rankings were based on.

For CTK, which received a final mark of 7.9 out of 10, the report showed the average exam mark dropped to 69.3, lower than 2010's 71.1. The school did see, however, a decreased percentage of exams failed, with a dip from 5.7 per cent in 2010 to five per cent in 2011. The school also has seen for a second year in a row a diploma completion rate of 95.7, something McNamara is proud of.

"That's excellent. We're still in the top 30 as far as high schools in the province and many of those are private schools or schools that have academic requirements before they even register students."

For Beaumont, which received the same grade out of 10 as CTK, their average exam mark dipped from 2010's 69.7 to 68.4. Their percentage of exams failed increased to nine per cent, up two per cent from 2010. The school's diploma completion rate also fell to 84.4 from 86.2 two years ago.

New Sarepta and John Maland both scored a 6.7 out of 10 as their overall grade but their results both paint a different picture. For New Sarepta Community High School, their average exam mark remained consistent from 2010 to 2011. For John Maland, their exam mark for 2011 is 65.6 and their mark in 2010 was 67.8.

New Sarepta saw a drop in the percentage of exams failed from 13.1 in 2011 to 14.1 in 2010. The same can't be said for Devon's high school, which saw an increase from 2010's 10.5 to 15.3 for 2011.

Both had high diploma completion rates, with New Sarepta earning 93.9 and John Maland earned 89.

"Always working with teachers, always working with students to do good work so it would just be a normal process that is just ongoing," he said.

Calmar scored a seven out of 10, their highest mark since 2009, when they received the same grade.

Their exam mark also went up from 62.4 in 2010 to 63 in 2011 and the school's overall diploma completion rate increased to 93.9 from 2010's 81.8. The school did see, however, an increase in the number of percentage of exams failed from 2010 to 19.6 to 20.4 in 2011.

LCHS had an overall grade of 6.3 out of 10 in the report, something which has remained relatively consistent over the last five years. The school's exam mark, however, has slowly tapered off over the last few years, with this year's mark finishing at 66.2. The percentage of exams failed dipped from 13.5 in 2010 to 12.9 in 2011 and the school's diploma completion rate rose to 76.2, more than three points more than 2010.

McNamara explains fluctuations over the last five years for any school is nothing strange to see and normal for a school's overall results.

"If you look over the last five years, you see fluctuations in it. The other thing, it doesn't take into account is the number of students it serves and in our case, we have a graduating class of about 60 students but when you compare that to a school that has a graduating class that has one of 600 or 500 students, five students can make a significant difference in your overall results. I believe the top 30 is great in the province and we have been as low as 10 and we fall into that range."

Warburg's high school received a rank of 4.9 out of 10, but most of the school's statistics were missing, including 2009 where there is no information available. For its average exam marks, the school saw a drop from 61.7 in 2010 to 59.4. The school also saw a substantial increase in the percentage of exams failed with 11.9 noted for 2010 to 27.3 in 2011. The school did see however an increase in diploma rates of just under four points.

Thorsby Junior/Senior High School ranked four out of 10 for its overall ratings and also saw a drop in its average exam marks from 66.6 to 58.3 in 2011. The school's percentage of exams failed also rose by an alarming rate, going from 7.3 in 2010 to 26.6 in 2011. The school's diploma completion rate fell from 81.8 to 79.3.

Although each school's result varied and saw substantially different results, school division officials said it is only a part of the school's profile.

"I believe parents are very proud of the work their students are doing with their teachers. We believe in having good relationships with students and parents and that's something we work very hard at. That's the primary job for students and teachers to work together and for parents to be involved as part of the team," said Yanitski.

McNamara is in agreement with his counterpart and also commented on the school division's highest ranking school and the overall report.

"It's limited in what it reports on, but it certainly affirms that CTK is an excellent school and provides an excellent academic education as well as many other things."

To view the report cards in their entirety, go to www. alberta.compareschoolrankings.org/ChooseReport.aspx.